HASTINGS, Minn. — A county south of the Twin Cities begins collecting DNA samples from people arrested and charged with violent crimes.
Previously an individual had to be convicted before a DNA sample could be collected. But a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2013 changed that. Beginning Monday, Dakota County will collect DNA from adults and juveniles charged with violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, assault, robbery, burglary and kidnapping.

A proposed expansion at the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center would meet increasing demand for DNA evidence, improve the ability to prevent contamination of samples and speed up identification of suspects, a county budget document says.

India’s Human DNA Profiling Bill 2015 proposes to set up a national DNA database of criminals that will include rapists, murderers and kidnappers. But the proposed draft is being criticized on several grounds – from being insensitive to privacy issues to allowing intrusive modes of sample collection.

I’ll never forget how lonely I felt when the jury announced its guilty verdict and the courtroom erupted in applause. I thought, how could this happen? It felt surreal, but soon after reality sunk in: I could spend the rest of my life in prison until the state of Maryland executed me. I spent eight years, 11 months and 19 days locked away — two of those years on death row — for a rape and murder that I did not commit, before post-conviction DNA testing proved my innocence.

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